Grant Morrison - Leaping Tall Buildings

Much of my time this past summer has been spent finishing up my part on the book, LEAPING TALL BUILDINGS: The Origins of American Comics. While Chris Irving has been editing the text and our designer Eric Skillman has been creating layouts, I've been a) making final, hi-res version of all of my photographic portraits and b), with the help of my intern, India, collecting art from all of the subjects to go along with their profile and portrait. It's been a massive amount of work for everyone involved.

We thought we had all the material together for the approximately 60 subjects whose stories and art would tell the narrative of comics history in the book. We were out of space, and in fact, we were way over the 240-page count our publisher powerHouse books had granted us. 60 pages over! But, there was one particular subject who had eluded us and it always bugged me that he wasn't in the book, so I figured I'd try Grant Morrison one more time. He lives between Scotland and LA, so it was mostly proximity which kept him from us, but he was scheduled to be in NYC to promote his new book Supergods, and he graciously found some time to meet with us.



Grant Morrison is a rockstar comics creator, who even in his superhero work manages to challenge the reader with his use of thought-provoking trippy futurism which looks back as it looks forward, and his big IDEAS. His work on Batman these past few years forces the reader to pay attention or get lost forever and his All Star Superman brings 50s era comic tropes to the 21st century in a story of epic beauty. Anyway, yeah, I'm a fan.

The shoot happened over 20 minutes in his midtown hotel room. Grant was gracious and patient and willing to experiment. I showed up with no concept whatsoever except I knew experimentation would be needed. Grant is a striking looking fella' and clearly a great subject and the interesting patterned wallpaper and mirrors in the room provided me with the rest. The photo at the top is the one that will be in the book. I think the viewer can interpret it several ways and I like that. I have my own interpretation, based upon his work and the often meta qualities, but I think it best to leave it vague.

See the Graphic NYC profile of Grant Morrison, featuring my photos, Chris's interview-based essay and art from his comics work here.

LEAPING TALL BUILDINGS - Jeffrey Brown

As can be seen from the photos above, I didn't go very conceptual with Jeffrey, and didn't need to. His work is mainly personal autobio, so it made the most sense to simply photograph him in his life, at work, in his home.

For more about Jeffrey and his work, check out the GRAPHIC NYC profile on him we just posted-
Jeffrey Brown: The Incredible Changing Artist!

I'll post the other Chicago subjects and more soon.

GRAPHIC NYC: Dwayne McDuffie

The GNYC Profile: Dwayne McDuffie: A Career of Diversity

Christopher Irving and I had the honor of profiling the late, great Dwayne McDuffie just ten days prior to his death. We were very saddened by the news, but glad to have gotten him for our book.

See the profile here - http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2011/03/dwayne-mcduffie-career-of-diversity.html

Leaping Tall Building coming from powerHouse book in '12

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Christopher Irving and Seth Kushner ink a deal with powerHouse Books to publish Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comic Books.

Brooklyn, NY (January 10, 2011) - Due out in Spring of 2012, Leaping Tall Buildings takes the comic book journalism essays and portraiture found on Graphic NYC and remasters them into a whole new and unique experience. Leaping will give readers a cohesive tapestry of the history of comic books through Graphic NYC’s distinctive brand of creator profiles, through Kushner’s iconic portraits of comics legends to Irving’s essays that fuse comics history with aspects of New Journalism.

The book’s synergistic photo and profile approach will document the pioneers and masters of the print comic, all the way through to the burgeoning digital age.

"One thing we've found in talking to everyone—from Joe Simon, who created Captain America, to Jules Feiffer, to Art Speigelman and postmodernists like Paul Pope, and all the way up through Marvel CCO Joe Quesada or even newer talent like Kevin Colden—is that you can actually trace the development of the comic book through their personal experiences, be it on newsprint or an iPad," Irving notes. "Beyond that, though, is that meeting all of these folks has been a helluva’ ride, especially since a few of them are personal heroes of ours."

“There have been so many memorable experiences. Hanging out on a Hell’s Kitchen rooftop with Frank Miller, in a Gotham alley with Denny O'Neil and in front of NYC’s Flatiron Building (The home of The Daily Bugle in the Spider-Man films) with Brian Michael Bendis has been a blast,” says photographer Kushner.

The deal with powerHouse comes as Graphic NYC wraps its second year online, and also caps an interesting year for the GNYC duo of Seth Kushner and Christopher Irving. 2010 saw the publication of Seth's online photo-based webcomix series, CulturePOP: Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters on Act-I-Vate.com, as well as the print birth of Christopher’s Graphic NYC Presents Dean Haspiel: The Early Years from IDW.

"On a personal note," Irving adds, "it was the toughest year of my life: my father, Elliott Irving, passed away in late July as I was wrapping production on the Dean book. Neither Graphic NYC nor Leaping could have happened without his support. As far as I'm concerned, honoring him means making Leaping Tall Buildings worthy of sitting on my bookshelf next to the copy of Jules Feiffer's The Great Comic Book Heroes that he gave me when I was twelve."

"The signing of this contract is the accumulation of three years of work, (so far!)" says Kushner. "It's been a long road since that cold January day in 2008 when cartoonist Dean Haspiel and I had a conversation about a potential 'photo book on comics creators' at the now-defunct Rocketship Comics in Brooklyn. From there, Dean began hooking me up with other cartoonists to photograph, and then, a few months later, he connected me with Chris and that team-up begets our upcoming book.”

“From the first book pitch through the development of the site,” Irving elaborates, “Seth and I have let Graphic NYC organically grow into an accessible and unique view of comics history that can be dug by both comic book readers and those new to the world of comics and graphic novels.”

“We knew powerHouse was the right publisher to bring our dream to fruition when we saw they were as excited by the project as we were," Kushner says, "and we’re confident that with pH publishing and with Random House’s distribution, the book will be a success."



Christopher Irving and Seth Kushner are both represented by Barry Goldblatt Literary.

Contact:

Christopher Irving

christopherlirving@gmail.com

804.852.7757



Seth Kushner

seth@sethkushner.com

718.490.5928



Christopher Irving started as an Associate Editor of the Eisner award-winning Comic Book Artist Magazine, and has since written about comics for New York Magazine, Comics Buyer’s Guide, and Alter Ego. Irving wrote and edited Graphic NYC Presents Dean Haspiel: The Early Years this year, as well as Hermes Press’ upcoming release The First Movie Superheroes, which documents the history of the superheroes of the 1940s movie serial. Leaping Tall Buildings will be Irving’s fifth book on comics.

Seth Kushner’s photographic portraits have appeared in such publications The New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, L'Uomo Vogue and others. Seth's first book, The Brooklynites, was published by powerHouse Books in 2007. Currently, he is working on CulturePOP, his photocomix series on ACT-I-VATE.com. Seth resides in Brooklyn with his wife and son, and way too many comics. www.SethKushner.com

Graphic NYC site update - Frank Miller

Frank Miller Part 1: Dames, Dark Knights, Devils, and Heroes

It was about two months ago when our Graphic NYC project finally took Christopher and I to Hell's Kitchen to meet Frank Miller. Back when I was nine, and first developing my weekly comics habit, Miller and Stan Lee were the first names I knew in comics.

I had met and photographed Frank before, on the same day I got dumped by a girlfriend, back in 2002. It was a memorable day.
Arranging this recent session took some doing. Over the past two years, Frank's been busy directing movies (The Spirit) and commercials (Gucci Guilt) and who knows what else, so he's been difficult to nail down. But, we're making a book on the history of American comics, so giving up on Frank was never an option.

Our day at Frank Miller's place was a great one for the project. Christopher had an epic interview with the creator in his studio, while I was serenaded by Frank's girlfriend, Kim while she played the piano in the living room.

There were two parts to my shoot. The first was in Frank's studio, and the second were on his balcony, overlooking Hell's Kitchen. The same Hell's Kitchen Frank had his Daredevil bounding over water towers and through alleys during his legendary run one the character. It was perfect.

Frank Miller Part 2: On Pastiche, Directing and the Future

Frank was a great subject, as he was for me back in '02. I like to think my photos of him are revealing. He gave me a mixture of patented Miller mugging, and some real vulnerability.

A note about my photos used in the profile: In attempting to keep Graphic NYC fresh, I decided, starting with this profile, to create an "opening piece," utilizing my portrait, Chris's title and a piece of the creator's art. I want it to feel more like a magazine profile and less like a blog. I've also began running pull quotes over the additional photos. It's an experiment which I think works, and will continue in the future.

See part 1 of the profile here - http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2010/12/frank-miller-
part-1-dames-dark-knights.html

See part 2 of the profile here - http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2010/12/frank-miller-part-2-on-pastiche.html

Neil Gaiman Sandman author photo

It was a year ago when I received a request from DC/Vertigo comics Executive Editor Karen Berger to use my portrait of author Neil Gaiman for the new tradepaperback editions of all 12 volumes of the acclaimed Sandman series. I was very excited by the request.

Sandman was a series I began reading when I was in college, and when I look back on my own work from that time, the influence it had on me is unmistakable. Also, while I never fell away from reading comics, it helped to make me excited about them again. I think the book had that effect on a lot of people.

The portrait of Neil was taken back in April '08, during an intermission of his reading for the CBLDF at NY Comic-Con. I only had five minutes. I'd long wanted to meet Neil, but given the time constrictions, I focused on getting the shot, hoping I'd get another chance to chat with him some time in the future.

The shoot took place "backstage" in the bowels of the Javits Center. The photo seen here was originally shot in front of a gray concrete wall - the only available option. It wasn't until over a year later when I found a background which felt right to me, and once layered and merged, I was finally able to deem it "finished."

I was told by Karen, "Neil loves the photo, but doesn't remember what it was taken for." That was no surprise to me, given the "environment" was changed.

In any case, I'm very proud to have my work associated with the great Neil Gaiman and his creation, The Sandman.

Graphic Novelists - Day 62

Nick Abadzis is GRAPHIC NYC's latest subject. Check out his GNYC profile and his wonderful book Laika.

Graphic Novelists - Day 61

Last month at the MoCCA Fest here in NYC, I had the honor of photographing Jaime Hernandez. Jaime, along with his brother Gilbert, form Los Bros. Hernandez, creators of the super influential Love and Rockets series.
Learn more about Jaime Hernandez by reading the GRAPHIC NYC Profile on him.

Graphic Novelists - Day 60

A midtown pub was the location for Ben Templesmith's portrait. The Australian born artist is best known for his painterly style as seen in such books as Fell, Wormwood, Groom Lake and 30 Days of Night.





Ben's latest series, Choker is a collaboration with writer Ben McCool.


Please be sure to check out the full GRAPHIC NYC profile on Ben.

Graphic Novelists - Day 59

Christopher and I were recently lucky enough to have grabbed up comics scholar Scott McCloud while he was in town to research his latest book.
Scott is best know for his work Zot! and for his three excellent and essential books on comics theory; Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics.

Being a fan of Scott's work for years, I immediately had a concept for the photo, and thankfully he was game. In his three "Comics" books, Scott breaks down how comics work, are created and are read, and he (or rather, his cartoon avatar) does it though - among other things - charts, diagrams, schematics, etc. Scott, who I see as comic's ultimate professor, spent over 45 minutes drawing the comics theory pieces seen on the blackboard in the photos below and it was far better than I even envisioned.
Thanks to the gang at XOXO studios for the use of their space and blackboard.

Check out the full GRAPHIC NYC profile, posted this week.

Graphic Novelists - Day 58

Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the Tribeca home of Larry Hama. Like many comics readers of my generation, G.I. Joe was my introduction to monthly comics, and we all have Larry Hama to thank for that, as he wrote 155 issue of the Marvel Comics series.

Check out the full GRAPHIC NYC profile on Larry.

Graphic Novelists - Day 57

As the GRAPHIC NYC project grows, we keep adding subjects, like recent Xeric award winner, Nathan Schrieber. I've been following Nathan's ACT-I-VATE comic, Power Out for a while now, and can say that it certainly is award-worthy.
Since much of Power Out take place in the woods, Prospect Park seemed like the perfect place to do Nathan's portrait.

See Nathan's full GRAPHIC NYC profile, which posted today.

Graphic Novelists - Day 56

On a stormy day, between two other photoshoots, I caught up with Jim Shooter at Grand Central Station. Even in the crowded station, he was hard to miss, as his old Marvel nickname of "Big" Jim Shooter wasn't given to him for nuthin.'
Jim Shooter got his started at DC Comics writing Action Comics and Adventure Comics in 1966, when he was only 14 years old. After a run on Legion of Super-Heroes, Shooter joined Marvel in as an Assistant Editor and writer. In 1978 he succeeded Archie Goodwin to become Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. During his nine year tenure, Marvel enjoyed success from Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on the Uncanny X-Men and Frank Miller's run on Daredevil, and Walt Simonson's The Mighty Thor. Shooter was the writer for Secret Wars, the first major company wide crossover, an event which has since become the norm.
After leaving Marvel in 1987, Shooter founded Valiant Comics, Defiant Comics, Broadway Comics, and in 2007 returned to DC Comics as the writer of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a book he had written 30 years earlier. Currently, Shooter is working with Dark Horse Comics on a relaunch of the Gold Key characters, just as his did during his Valiant days.

Though considered a controversial figure by some, I found Jim Shooter to be friendly, open and full of great stories. For his portrait, my initial plan was to shoot him out on the street with NYC's skyscrapers behind him, making him part of the skyline, but heavy rain prevented this, so we went to Plan B, which can be seen below-

Graphic Novelists - Day 55 (and project update)

GRAPHIC NYC has recently gone through a big change in it's mission statement. Originally, the goal was to photographically capture (with interviews by Cris) the top comic book creators in NYC, the birthplace of comics. Now, we've gotten even more ambitious - we'll be covering the top creators in the whole United States. This, of course, expands the project a great deal. Eventually, once the book sells, we'll be doing some traveling, for now, we'll be catching up with folks when they're in town, as we did recently with Brain Michael Bendis, Mike Allred, and Most recently, David Mack.

David's innovative work in his creator owned Kabuki and Marvel's Daredevil pushes the boundaries of what is expected in comic book art and storytelling. David employs a mixed-media approach to his work, creating a unique narrative approach which often feels more like poetry than comics.
For the photo, I was looking to create a Japanese vibe, in keeping with David's work in Kabuki. Several locations in Manhattan's East Village helped with creating that feel.

Graphic Novelists - Day 53

Friday afternoon, I left the Big Apple Comic Con and all of the forgotten celebs I was shooting (post coming soon) to meet up with my GRAPHIC NYC partner, Chris Irving and comics creator Brian Michael Bendis. We met in front of the Flatiron Building, the building that houses the Marvel Universe's Daily Bugle in the Spider-Man films.
I've been a huge fan of Bendis since his indie days when he was doing books like Jinx and Torso. Then, he moved into the Marvel Universe, and for me, (and I'm sure many) he brought a new sense of realism and originality. He also brought along what naysayers call "decompressed storytelling," but what I like to instead call "long form" storytelling, where the stories are allowed time to play out. That, along with his snappy Mamet-like dialogue and fresh takes on old ideas, have infused excitement into books like Ultimate Spiderman, Daredevil, Alias, New Avengers, and many others.
As for the photo, I'm sure you can see that Brian really brought it.

Graphic Novelists - Day 52

I had the pleasure of photographing Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada this week. The shoot was actually for L'Uomo Vogue magazine, but afterwards, I managed to get a portrait of Joe for Graphic NYC which I hope conveys his strength and importance to the world of comics, and the Marvel Universe in particular. I like Joe's wardrobe choice, as it comments on recent headlines.
I'll post some of the other shots I did for Vogue soon.

Fantagraphics Gahan Wilson shoot/Graphic Novelists - Day 51

I was contacted recently by Jacob Covey and Gary Groth from Fantagraphics to photograph cartoonist Gahan Wilson for the back cover of his new book collection, Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons.
The collection will feature three books uniquely presented in a slipcase with a plexiglass back cover. The concept was to shoot Gahan with his face pressed up against a big sheet of plexi and using that image on the back cover of the book that faces out of the plexiglass, so it will appear that he is trapped in package and pushing through. See below for an outtake-

Gahan is of course a perfect subject for my GRAPHIC NYC project, so I will be utilizing the photos for that as well. Christopher Irving will be interviewing him next week and we'll post the complete profile soon.

Graphic Novelists - Day 50

Friday afternoon brought Christopher Irving and me to the midtown home of Continuity Studios to interview and photograph Neal Adams.
Neal's perhaps best known for the dynamic pencils and realistic anatomy he brought to DC Comics Deadman in the late 60's on Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman in the 70's with writer Denny O' Neil. Most importantly though, throughout his career he has been a tireless advocate for creator's rights and was instrumental in helping Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Currently Neal's studio is doing work in commercial advertising, comics, and working on state-of-the-art motion comics.
As for the photo, when my subject is primarily known as a superhero artist, and an iconic one such as Neal, it's difficult for me to resist using a cityscape with water towers. I can so easily picture Neal's Batman or Green Arrow bounding across the background behind him in the photo.

Graphic Novelists - Day 49

I returned to Gowanus last night to the building that houses the studios, Deep6 and XOXO, home to comics creator Joe Infurnari.
Joe's amazing THE TRANSMIGRATION OF ULTRA-LAD! can be seen on Act-I-Vate. Also great is THE PROCESS, which can be seen on Joe's own site. Currently he's working with writer Mark Waid on back-up stories for the comic, JERSEY GODS, and on a story for UNCANNY X-MEN: FIRST CLASS GIANT-SIZE SPECIAL #1.
For the photo, Joe wanted to do something different, and after 51 cartoonist portraits, so did I. He had the concept to use projection and together we worked out how to project his work onto a rain soaked Gowanus street.

Graphic Novelists - Day 48

Today Chris Irving and I had coffee with our latest legendary subject, Carmine Infantino. At 83 years old, Carmine moves much slower than his creation, The Flash, (Barry Allen) but his mind moved speedily as he regaled us with his stories from the golden and silver ages of comics.
Aside from being one of comic's best artists, Carmine was an art director at DC Comics, then editorial director and finally publisher.